Promoting Investment Cooperation to Develop Core Businesses

In implementing the Development Acceleration Strategy and enhancing cooperation with foreign partners, the State-owned Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) has stepped up international cooperation in core business development in recent years. This is entirely consistent with the Vietnamese oil and gas industry development strategy, and with foreign investment promotion policies on oil and gas exploration in open areas. Besides, Vietnamese enterprises continue to seek opportunities for overseas investment, particularly in the Russian Federation, Africa, Americas, former CIS countries and Southeast Asia region.

 

At a recent Vietnam - Netherlands Energy Cooperation Forum, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Vietnam considers energy a key economic sector which contributes to realising the country’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and hastens the national industrialisation and modernisation process. At present, Vietnam is estimated to consume 36 million tonnes of oil equivalent, including 17 million tonnes of petrol. Vietnam’s total energy demand for commercial purposes is forecast to increase by over 7 percent each year through 2025. To meet the energy demand for the country’s economic development and ensure national energy security in the context of fluctuating oil and gas prices, the Vietnamese Government is actively implementing measures to diversify energy resources, like foreign sources, and giving priority to developing renewable energy, liquefied natural gas-fuelled power and atomic energy. Vietnam also boosts energy efficiency and conservation programmes, and carries out a market-based energy price roadmap to invigorate domestic and foreign investment in this area.

 

At the forum, PetroVietnam contacted and worked bilaterally with many Dutch energy, oil and gas companies and organizations. The two sides exchanged experience and advanced technical applications technologies for energy efficiency, new energy sources, clean energy and renewable energy. The group also introduced investment opportunities there. Also during the visit, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Maxime Verhagen witnessed the signing of oil and gas cooperation agreements between PetroVietnam with Royal Dutch Shell Group, and many other important agreements.

 

In Vietnamese and Uzbekistan senior delegation talks, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev spoke highly of the effective oil and gas exploration and exploitation of PetroVietnam in Uzbekistan. Prime Minister Dung stressed that oil and gas is a spearhead cooperative area between the two nations. He proposed that Uzbekistan soon finalise procedures for signing a contract between PetroVietnam and the Uzbekistani Oil and Gas National Holding Company in Bukhara Khiva, Uzbekistan, adding that the Vietnamese Government is ready to facilitate the Uzbekistani Oil and Gas National Holding Company’s involvement in oil and gas exploration and exploitation projects on Vietnam’s continental shelf. For his part, PM Shavkat Mirziyoyev affirmed that the Uzbekistani Government always supports and creates favourable conditions for oil and gas projects with Vietnam, which, he said, is an important cooperative field between the two nations.

 

Earlier, PetroVietnam, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC) organised an investment promotion programme from September 13 to 22, 2011 in Washington D.C., United States. This was the first time PetroVietnam held an investment promotion programme in the United States and the success of this programme offered plenty of opportunities for US investors to invest in its projects. The focus of the programme was the conference entitled “Investment opportunities to Vietnam: Energy and Finance” organised in Washington D.C. on September 15. PetroVietnam introduced 26 projects in the four fields of down/midstream, power generation, infrastructure and equity. The group also organised roundtable meetings in New York City and Houston to exchange ideas and discuss the above projects with interested US companies, including Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, TPG, Morgan Stanley and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), to reach investment cooperation.

 

The growth of the PetroVietnam brand also attracted many foreign business delegations to Vietnam to seek opportunities for cooperation in oil and gas exploration and exploitation projects in Vietnam and in other countries. At an introductory conference on “Opportunities of Vietnam oil and gas industry development” with Dutch companies, Mr Tran Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said: In oil and gas industry development strategy and planning for the period from now till 2020, prospects of Vietnam’s oil, gas and energy projects remain very high. This means attracting appropriate investment in technologies, especially technologies for increasing production coefficient and oil recovery factor, should be in focus. Besides, in the field of gas processing, in order to increase gas added value, Vietnam needs the cooperation of foreign investors, especially proprietary technology - the key to the effective economic performance of plants.

 

In the context of global economic crisis, to attract investment for the oil and gas industry, the Government of Vietnam offers a lot of incentives. For example, the Government creates opportunities for foreign investors to enter into joint ventures under different investment forms to develop oil and gas projects. Besides, development policies are also specifically regulated by Investment Law and Petroleum Law, both satisfying foreign investors’ needs. In addition, as the State governing body, the Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade is working with Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group to study and seek solutions for successful project implementation.